While this guacamole may seem substantially similar to Nuria’s, the subtle differences are enough to land the knockout punch. Or so I think.

Like Nuria, I have never been able to get behind guacamole in containers. First, how do they keep it that green color? Probably lots of additives and chemicals and whatnot. Even if it is “all natural”, avocados are not the cheapest produce in the world. So if that guacamole is so cheap, you had best be believing avocados aren’t the main ingredient.

Whenever possible, I buy some avocados and make my own guacamole. Totally worth the little bit of time it takes.

I don’t know if everyone on the planet already knows this trick, but I dice up the avocado still in the skin. I then use a spoon around the outside and put it, diced, into a bowl.

You’ll want to squeeze some lime juice directly on the fresh avocado to keep that bright green color.

I add cumin (sorry Nuria). I love the smokiness and depth that cumin gives to recipes and again, it’s about showcasing the avocado.

I also add raw garlic. Just a single clove, diced as fine as I can make it. I love garlic, and I love the flavor it brings to this dish.

I don’t add tomatoes. I like tomatoes just fine, but I want the avocado to be the star of the guacamole and the other flavors to be subtle enhancements.

All-in-all this guacamole is fresh, healthy and will disappear as soon as you make it.

Cut a lime in half and using a strainer, or your hand, squeeze fresh lime juice over the onion and avocado mixture until all pieces of avocado are covered in juice when tossed gently with a fork. This may take up to a lime and a half.

Cut up your cilantro as best you can and throw it in along with your cumin and a healthy dash of salt. Stir.

Taste. Add in lime juice, cumin or salt as needed.

You can serve immediately or let chill in the fridge, tightly covered, for a few hours. Mine lasts up to 2-3 days, tightly covered in the fridge, before getting super brown.

Nothing in this world trumps homemade guacamole. Especially MY guacamole. Costco’s guacamole has WAY too much garlic (ask my Tia Tere), store-bought guacamole is missing that je ne sais quoi, and well, I’m just a picky guacamole eater. I like my guacamole to have simple ingredients and be seasoned only by a juicy lime and salt of the earth.

In fact, I love my guacamole recipe so much, I’ve been making this exact recipes for at least 6 or 7 years. Whatever you do, don’t put raw garlic, don’t put cumin and don’t make it spicy by adding cayenne pepper (sorry Alton Brown and Rebecca).

2 large Real California avocados, ripe (to test this, push on the “nipple” of the avocado. If there is squishyness, it’s ready.)

2 roma tomatoes

1/3 large jalapeno, diced small

1 cup diced red onion

the juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup diced cilantro

salt and pepper (plenty of salt)

tortilla chips (to serve)

Instructions:

1. First, dice your onions and tomatoes.

2. Cut your avocados in half by running a knife from the top to bottom of the avocado and spinning it to make two equal halves. To separate, DON’T PULL, but rather TWIST the two halves in opposite directions. The pit will stay with one half. Take your knife, and jab it into the pit and twist it out. DO NOT use your hand to remove the put from the knife. Just give it a light tap into the trash can, and it’ll fly right off. Avocado pits are slippery and you can cut your hand by trying to remove the pit from the knife using your hand!!!

3. Now dice and add the jalapeno to the onion/tomato mix.

4. Without removing the avocado from the shell, cut it into squares, and that way, when you scoop it out with a large spoon, it’ll come out in little squares. (See below)

5. Use a fork to squish the avocados (a potato masher would work, too). It shouldn’t be creamy, but it also shouldn’t be super chunky. This recipe is not called “chunky guacamole.” Finally, dish up with your favorite tortilla chips…and one word of warning…

TAKE YOUR PICTURE BEFORE YOU SET IT ON THE TABLE, or people will dig in and you’ll be left with THIS (see below) to snap a pic. Sorry! Could have been a better picture but everyone was chip-diving and I couldn’t get a better pic before it was devoured. ENJOY!

Why did I make shrimp ceviche? Well, ceviche is a dish that is interpreted from country to country from Cuba to South America to Mexico and far beyond. Every country as their steadfast rules about what kind of fish, what kind of additions, etc. So, why did I make shrimp ceviche?

The inspiration really came from my fiance, Rafa, who bought a tray of 100 Shrimp Cocktail things with the red sauce. He loves that shit and can eat it up all day, but 100 shrimp? Even I was overwhelmed. He suggested to me to make a ceviche while we were at Costco and he saw a store-made ceviche that featured mango. He said that ceviche should NEVER have mango. Although many ceviche recipes DO feature mango, we both agreed it was a no-no. Again, it’s our interpretation of a dish that varies as much as each spanish-speaking nation varies.

Shrimp Ceviche

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs. peeled, deveined and pre-cooked shrimp

6 limes, juice only

1 avocado, large

1/2 large red onion

1/2 jalapeno

bunch of cilantro

salt & pepper

Instructions: (requires overnight inactive cooking time)

1. To make your life a lot easier, use “cocktail shrimp,” which is what I did. I ripped all the tails off by pinching the tail and pulling the body gently. I filled a bowl. After, cut up the shrimp in uneven pieces (some large, some small). I generally cut each shrimp into 3 pieces. See below.

2. Place the chopped shrimp into a glass bowl that has a flat base. In this case, I found my glass pie pan to be quiet useful. Pepper the shrimp.

3. Now cut your 6 limes in half. I know it seemmmmsss like a lot of citrus, but actually the original recipe called for 6 limes PLUS 6 lemons. That’s a little out of hand and all of the comments said something like “whoa, wayyy too citrusy”…etc. I figured, I should cut that in half. Did it help to convince myself of this also because I had no lemons? Sure, it did! 🙂

4. You may be asking yourself, why is there a fork stuck in that lime? No, I’m not just trying to display it for you. It is actually a technique I use to juice limes. I pierce it with a fork, then, holding the fork in place, I use my other hand to squeeze the lime and rub it up and down in a “C” shape to extract all of the juice. Works really well and makes sure to get every drop of juice.

Now that the shrimp is in a nice little pool. Cover it in seran wrap and refrigerate it to let the juice soak in. My fridge got a little cold and froze the whole thing, so I had to wait an extra day for it to un-freeze. Ugh!

Last week during my first foray into the Beaverton farmers market I found some gorgeous rhubarb and some perfectly ripe early strawberries. One of my favorite things to do with rhubarb is turn it into a compote. It is tangy, sweet and versatile.

Even better than rhubarb? Strawberry Rhubarb. One of life’s perfect marriages. Like peanut butter and chocolate or marshmallow and graham crackers or pickles and mustard. What, is that last one just me? You haven’t tried a good cuban sandwich, have you. Oh, idea for a post!

Anyway, creating a compote is super easy and quick. What do you do with a compote you ask? Anything you want. You can eat it straight from a bowl, pour it over ice cream, or make a dessert with it. A crisp or a cobbler or even some cheesecake or cupcakes. Like I said, versatile.

You are going to start by slicing up your rhubarb and strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Then you throw them in a pot with just enough water to cover the bottom. Cover the pot and bring to a slow simmer. Uncover the pot. Mix every few minutes until the fruit starts to break down and you get a kind of thick, chunky syrup.

You are going to need to taste it to add in any additional sweetness it may need. I use regular table sugar, but my mom likes equal *shudder*. You can also use agave nectar or stevia or any kind of sweetener you’d like. Just make sure to add a little at a time and taste. You want the tart from the rhubarb to come through strong and rhubarb-like, and you want to taste the sweetness of the strawberries.

Remember, you can always add, but never subtract.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Ingredients:

About 1 lb Strawberries

3 stalks rhubarb

1/4 cup water (approximately)

Up to 1/3 cup sugar (you shouldn’t need near this much)

Directions:

Wash strawberries and rhubarb

cut into bite-sized pieces

Place into a small pot with water

Cover and bring to a boil

Uncover and reduce heat to a slow simmer (medium-low)

Cook about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally

Once the fruit has broken down somewhat and created a thick syrup, remove from heat and add sugar a tablespoon at a time. Taste after every addition

I had my friend Jen’s surprise baby shower that I was throwing this past weekend and I was put in charge of desserts. Or rather I appointed myself queen of desserts.

The surprise went off without a hitch, as did my delicious confections.

The main event was a banana cake with Bavarian cream filling push-up pop cake, which will be posted later in the week.

But to go with that I wanted something simple that was also incredibly easy (as not everyone loves banana cake).

Enter: palmiers.

These little french cookies are ridiculously easy to make and you store them in the fridge for a few hours to overnight just to slice them up and bake them off.

The only caveat is that you’re playing with sugar at a very high temp in the oven so you have to watch them closely so the sugar doesn’t burn. The first batch burned and no one ever wants the smell of burned sugar in their home. Trust me.

They are a delicate cookie made with really only 3 ingredients: puff pastry, sugar, cinnamon.

I made one perfect round. The rest were all smooshed from the way I rolled them then places them in the fridge so I figured i’d leave them to see how they turned out.

They turned out just fine. Don’t you think?

Palmiers

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

2 cups sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon (or to taste, I like more usually)

Directions:

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl

Spread work area with about 1/2 a cup of the cinnamon sugar mix

Put puff pastry down, open flat and sprinkle with some more cinnamon sugar. The idea is to use the cinnamon sugar in place of flour. Helps it get really into the dough.

Roll out dough until it is about even all around, maybe 12×12. I never measure but I eyeball

While you’re rolling, continuously add cinnamon sugar to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pin or the work surface

Start rolling the dough inward from each end, meeting in the middle.

Wrap and refrigerate for a few hours to overnight.

Preheat oven to 450

Line 2 baking sheets with silpats (or parchment paper but the coverings are really a must here as there will be carmelized sugar on your baking tray and it’s a pain to get off) You can also use 1 tray but 2 makes it easier.

Take your dough out of the fridge, and slice into 1 1/2 inch slices

Lay slices down on a cookie sheet with the rolled side facing up

Bake for 10-11 minutes turning once halfway through. Make sure you watch the last 2 minutes so the sugar doesn’t burn. They should be a nice golden brown all the way around.

My mom makes this excellent peanut noodle salad that I have yet to get the recipe for. This is a close second, but still I want that recipe. I will write it on my to-do list which has grown frightful in length.

I leave for my trip for Japan in 2 weeks and i’m SO EXCITED but I have so much to do before then.

My plan is to take pictures of all the food i’m eating over there and post it here so that you guys can live vicariously. Or eat vicariously.

I do have a few tips and tricks to share. First, Julienne means to cut into strips.

Be so, so careful with sesame oil. Too much and you’ll overpower your recipe and it will be ruined. It is nasty stuff in large quantities.

Don’t follow directions on the rice Thai noodles package, it’s wrong and your noodles will still be raw and you won’t realize it because you tasted the 1 noodle that happened to get cooked and you’ll have to throw out the whole thing. Not like that happened to me or anything…

You can feel free to play around with the add-ins, more or less veggies, any combo of veggies you like.

You can also easily make this vegan/vegetarian by omitting the meat. However, I love chicken and I need the extra protein. But next time I may consider tofu.

I also use thigh meat because I prefer dark to white meat, but you can use the breast. I threw the thighs on a sheet pan with some salt and pepper and roast for about 40 minutes, flipping halfway through. I roasted it at 350 since I didn’t need a crusty outside or anything.

Depending on how much spice you like start with 1/4 of a pepper and go from there. I like a kick so I added in the whole thing, seeds and all.

1 small chili pepper (I only had access to Serrano, but you can use any, including red thai)

Garnish

1/3 cup peanuts (I used salted)

1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped

Directions:

Boil your noodles

In a food processor, add in all ingredients for the sauce.

Whir it up until it makes a nice pourable sauce. Dip your finger in to see what it needs more of to fit your tastes. I added in a bit more sugar. Make sure not to dip the same finger back in to check again. And make sure your hands are clean. Although if you’re the only one eating it you can bend those rules.

Put the noodles in a big bowl along with your veggies and mix them all up.

Add in the chicken and repeat the mixing process.

Pour your sauce over the top and stir to combine and get everything thoroughly coated in peanut sauce.

Throw peanuts and cilantro on top when serving. Just be forewarned that they will get a little soggy if you mix it in or leave them on top. If you don’t mind soggy, combine away.

This is a great breakfast recipe that has an entire’s day worth of your fruit serving! It’s so easy. Buying frozen fruit is a great alternative to buying fruit out of season. Frozen fruit is typically frozen at the peak of it’s freshness so retain it’s nutritional value. In some cases, it’s better to buy frozen than out of season because out of season fruit has traveled so far, it has not been picked when ripe but rather much earlier so that it can make the long trip to your grocery store and arrive ripe. For this reason, I like Fred Meyer’s frozen fruit blends. They come in resealable bags and in different varieties…and can make several days worth of smoothies. Enjoy (and enjoy the painting I did hanging in my kitchen – do you like it?)

Yes, it sounds weird. Yes, it tastes different. But man, once you start you just can’t seem to stop.

I saw this recipe on my periodic perusing of various food blogs and thought that a) it looks weird, b) I had a 6-year old’s birthday party that I wanted to bring something to yet had zero time, and c) I wanted to try it.

It is easy. Well, except for the learning curve of popping popcorn on the stove. See, I usually eat the microwave kind but I though butter taste would be nasty mixed with the rest. Since I don’t have an air popper (totally on my list to get) I would try the stove method, which I was assured through various bloggers was “easy”.

Ha! Easy is a relative term I guess. The first round burned and we had 4 people scrambling around to open windows and dumping burnt oil on the backyard area. Next attempt went well, except for the small problem of trying to pour out the popcorn while it was still hot and popping missed kernels went everywhere and while the dog is trying to eat the popcorn you step on him and he limps away looking at you like you did it on purpose. In your big boots. The cats just look at you from afar like you’re crazy and please can you open a can of tuna already since you’re in there.

Funny side note, my cat Remy has now learned how to operate the automatic can opener. He will run it for a second then wait for the magic tuna can to appear. As if by sheer will and whirring noises the blessed food will arrive open and ready to be consumed.

But I digress. I brought the popcorn to the party and the parents went nuts over it. I’m pretty sure the kids couldn’t have cared less. But it really is a great party treat when you’re low on time but want to present something fun.

Also, next time, I think instead of shortening I’ll try coconut oil. Maybe bring a really fun flavor to it.

First, you want to pop your popcorn. You can do this on the stove, it just takes a little practice and patience. Otherwise, use the popcorn machine you probably have since you’re not stubborn like I am.

Next, melt the white chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals. It may go without saying here, but you cannot get even a DROP of water in your chocolate when you are trying to melt it, either on your stovetop or the microwave. It will seize up and you will curse and have to start over.

Once the chocolate is melted, add in the shortening and get it all melty and good. If you need to stick it back in the microwave for a few seconds, that’s fine too.

Then add in the cup to a cup and a half of cake mix. Go a little at a time as you may not need it all to get to the right consistency.

Once that is all mixed together and not too clumpy, poor it over the popcorn and toss to coat.

Next, grab any leftover sprinkles you need to use up and dump them in. Toss again.

Let it harden before eating if you can. Will last a few days in an airtight container.

Well it’s that time of year again! Time for my favorite holiday: Passover. A time to gather with family and friends, eat, drink a ton of wine (Manischewitz if you can handle it) and basically enjoy one of the best foods in the world, Matzo Ball soup. Oh, I will be posting the soup sometime this week. Don’t you worry. But until then, it’s time to put away the flour and the leavening agents and get down to some kosher for Passover dessert.

Every year I try to experiment with new recipes for the Passover Seder. Although the tried and true will be making an appearance on the blog this week, I wanted to start off by bragging about what should be an amazing kosher for Passover torte (cake) I made.

It is an intermediate level cake, only because it does require folding, weighing of ingredients and a steady hand.

It is rather quick to make, and the frosting is so yummy I may actually use it again in place of a typical ganache. I think it would be even more amazing if I made it with an orange simple syrup instead of a regular one.

A few notes. First, make sure when you separate the eggs, you don’t let any yolk into the whites. Keep those yolks because next week I am going to tackle a hollandaise sauce.

Second, when folding, only add your almond meal mixture in a bit at a time. Too much and you’ll deflate your whites more than you want to. So don’t be like me and get impatient. Folding is about patience.

Also, don’t make your chocolate frosting too early. It actually goes much quicker than it seems, and you still want warm chocolate frosting to make spreading easier. Mine got a little too settled and was more difficult to make pretty. So to counteract that, I would start once the cake comes out of the oven.

The timing is way off on the original recipe. I did mine in 20 minutes, and it was perfect and golden brown. So make sure you rotate the pans at 10 minutes, then start checking at 20.

Another trick for cake decorating is to place strips of parchment paper underneath the first layer so that the platter will be clean after you frost. Just wiggle the paper strips out from under the finished cake.

Also, you can make this cake a day or two ahead like I did, just tent it with foil and wax paper (so it doesn’t stick) and leave it at room temperature. I actually think it will set better.

I am so excited to try this tonight. It is going to be intensely sweet and delicious, and hopefully everyone will enjoy!

Flavoring of your choice, such as 1/2 teaspoon orange oil or extract, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, almond or other extract

20 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chocolate chips

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (at 350 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes on a tray, stirring once or twice)

Directions:

For the cake:

Position an oven rack in the top and lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325°F.

Prepare 2 cookie sheets with silpats (recommended highly if you don’t have them) or parchment paper.

Place almonds, 1 cup sugar and coarse salt in a food processor (you can skip the food processor, however, if you use an equivalent weight of almond meal or ground almonds, just mixing the ingredients in a bowl) and blend until finely ground.

Spread 1/4 of macaroon batter to form a rectangle. Repeat, making 2 cakes per tray. You can eyeball like I did if you don’t mind messy layers. Otherwise, the original recipe calls for drawing 4 4×12 rectangles on the parchment paper (pen/pencil side down) and filling in the rectangles.

Bake macaroon layers until golden and almost firm to the touch in the center, reversing sheets halfway through. About 20-25 minutes.

Cool macaroons on their sheets on a cooling rack.

For the Frosting:

Simmer 1/2 cup of water and sugar in a medium saucepan until sugar dissolves.

Measure 10 tablespoons from this and either discard the rest of save it for another use. Put the 10 tablespoons syrup back in the saucepan and add flavoring of your choice.

Bring the syrup back to a boil and add chocolate to the saucepan. Remove from heat and let sit for one minute, then stir the chocolate until smooth.

This should yield a medium-thick frosting, good for spreading. If yours is on the thin side, you can let it cool for 5 or 10 minutes until it is a good spreading consistency.

Assemble the cake:

If needed due to spreading, carefully trim your macaroon layers back to their intended rectangular sizes.

Place one macaroon layer on a long platter. Spread frosting evenly over. Top with another macaroon layer. Spread frosting evenly over. Repeat 1 more time then top with last macaroon layer, flat side up. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of torte.

The first time I ever met Rafael he had me come over for dinner and he made me my favorite childhood food, tostones. Tostones are basically fried plantains, but Rafa’s are so delicious because he has a not-so-secret-technique that he’s allowed me to share today. It involved garlic – Yummmm. Tostones are traditional side dishes served with a regular plate of food in Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Caribbean nations. They’re really not that hard to make and once you do it a couple of time, it’ll be second nature. Also, make sure you buy GREEN, and I mean, GREEN plaintains for tostones. If you buy them yellow or fading out of green, they’ve matured too much and now you should make platanos maduros (a sweeter version of fried plantains).

In this recipe, I am featuring my boyfriend, Rafael, who is going to teach you how to make tostones. Enjoy!

1. Peel the plantains removing the thick outer skin without puncturing the plantain inside. Do yourself a favor and DON’T taste the plantain because they are extremely bitter and dry until cooked. Cut each plantain in 1 inch pieces or 1 1/2 inch, then place them in water while you heat the oil on HIGH and chop your garlic.

2. Once your garlic is smashed, put it in a bowl of water (like a cereal bowl), and drian your plantains. The oil is ready, right?

3. Now, fry your plantains just the way they are in the big chunks you cut. Fry them for about 10 minutes, constantly watching and moving.

4. Grab a paper sack (like from Fred Meyer) and set it aside. Remove all of the plantains once they’re golden back into that empty bowl they were previously in. Here goes the actualtostonprocess. Place the hottostonbetween the folder sack and press it (smash it). Immediatley place it in the garlicky water. About three will fit at a time in the garlickly water.

5. Toss them around the garlicky water and then put them back in the screaming hot oil – IT WILL PLATTER ALL OVER THE PLACE BECAUSE YOU’RE PUTTING SOMETHING WET INTO HOT OIL. Be prepared for this.